The present invention relates to an insulating glazing unit internally provided with a blind.
Insulating glazing units are currently widely used, most of all because of their appreciable heat- and sound-insulation characteristics.
It is known that insulating glazing units are of the type that comprises a perimetric frame which supports two parallel panes of glass so as to form a sealed air space between them.
In many applications, between the two glass panes, inside the air space, there is a Venetian blind constituted by a set of mutually parallel slats which are held together by cords for adjusting inclination and gathering.
In recent years, insulating glazing units with a Venetian blind whose gathering and unfolding are actuated by automatic actuation means have become widely used.
Venetian blinds, however, are unable to ensure complete blackout and accordingly, when the user deems this necessary, they are combined with a blind applied outside the insulating glazing unit.
As an alternative, insulating glazing units are commercially available which are provided with an internal blind which is rolled up and unrolled around a roller which can be actuated by roll-up/unrolling mechanisms.
In practice, however, these mechanisms are rather complicated, since they must be contained in the insulated region of the air space, bearing in mind the fact that the volume of the rolled-up blind considerably limits the available space.
Accordingly, insulating glazing units of this type have not been very successful indeed because of the complexity of the mechanism for rolling up/unrolling the blind.
Other insulating glazing units are commercially available which are provided with a pleated blind made of a material, or having a structure, which blocks the light; the blind is made to descend from the top by means of adjustment cords in a manner which is fully equivalent to what occurs during the unfolding of Venetian blinds.
Unfortunately, in blinds of this type it is necessary to provide holes through which said cords must be passed; said holes accordingly make it impossible to achieve complete blackout.
It is interesting to note that in any case the user must choose whether to install an insulating glazing unit with a shading Venetian blind or an insulating glazing unit with a blackout blind, even though blackout is incomplete (due to the holes present on said blind) or is easily subject to malfunctions (due to the complexity of the mechanisms for actuating blinds rolled around a roller).
The only possible alternative for providing the user with the maximum freedom of choice is to couple two insulating glazing units, one in front of the other, which are respectively internally provided with a shading Venetian blind and with a blackout blind.
Clearly, however, this last solution, which is the only truly complete one for the user, is also very onerous and so far has accordingly seen limited application.
The aim of the present invention is to provide an insulating glazing unit provided with a blind which solves the drawbacks noted above of conventional units.
Within the scope of this aim, an important object of the present invention is to provide an insulating glazing unit with a blind which can simultaneously also include a shading Venetian blind.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide an insulating glazing unit provided with a blind which ensures complete blackout when it is unfolded.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insulating glazing unit with a blind whose roll-up and unfolding mechanism is functional and extremely simple.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insulating glazing unit with a blind with can be manufactured at costs which are fully comparable to the costs of normally commercially available insulating glazing units.
This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by an insulating glazing unit internally provided with a blind which can be moved from a fully gathered condition to an unfolded condition, and vice versa, characterized in that said blind, in the gathered configuration, is arranged in the lower part and interacts with means for pulling a flap in order to unfold it from the bottom upward until said insulating glazing unit is fully blacked out.